About Us

Ethos is a growing network of social entrepreneurs and innovators who create sustainable solutions to society’s complex challenges (see Our Projects for examples). For us, success isn’t just economic – it’s about achieving positive social and environmental outcomes.

Ethos was founded in 2010 by Robert Pye and Tony Clarke who had a vision of the future of work: better for individuals, better for organisations, better for the world we live in.

Unlike business consultancies whose relationships with clients are based on payment in exchange for services, Ethos co-ventures to deliver better outcomes for all and stay focused on results as partners.

What it is, is….up to us

— Howard Rheingold —

How We Work

Ethos is a leading proponent of the Future of Work. Instead of a standard hierarchical structure we have a ‘dynamic hierarchy’ – within which authority shifts based on who has the most knowledge and experience in a specific context. We also don’t have static office buildings. What connects our extraordinary team of people is our shared vision & approach, shared company ownership and cloud technology.

Projects are born within Ethos when one or more of us becomes passionate about solving a challenge. Skills shortages, smarter cities, better integrated health care and fundraising for sport in the forces are just a few of the areas we are involved in. See Our Work to find out more.

Whatever we do, it’s informed by our core values.

Collaboration

Innovation and transformation happen when the right people collaborate, rather than compete. We believe that the best solutions are possible only when people, rather than corporations, are put at the heart of them.

Trust

Collaboration cannot happen without trust. We strive to be as open and transparent as possible in every aspect of our relationships. We aim to achieve positive outcomes for everyone involved.

Moderation

When self-interest or profit-at-any-cost dominates problem solving, the outcome is often unsustainable. We believe that moderation of self interest by all parties is the route to sustainable success. If this sounds like the way you’d like to work, contact us

We share a vision about the future of work which is better for individuals, better for organisations and better for the world we live in.

Our Work

Business Lines

Click on images below to find out more

Our Projects

Team Army

Funding Army sport

Established in 2010, and led by retired Major General Lamont Kirkland CBE, Team Army has been hugely successful in bringing together leading industry brands with the British Army, Navy and Combined Services, and now raises over £1.5M per annum of essential funding for Forces sport. Visit website

GEOmii Parking

Making modern mobility easy

GEOmii improves citizens’ quality of life by allowing drivers to find spaces easily thanks to artificial intelligence working in conjunction with sensor systems (including our sensor vehicle GEOrge) to predict available parking. Using real time and predicted data, we have also now launched the GEOmii Parking mobile app, helping drivers navigate to the best parking place. Read more

SkillsPlanner

Solving the skills gap

SkillsPlanner is an innovative approach to solving industry skills shortages. A £1.3m initiative, part-funded by Innovate UK and backed by some of the UK’s largest employers, SkillsPlanner allows employers and skills providers to share the data that makes meeting future employment needs possible. SkillsPlanner has launched with a two-year R&D project focused on the London construction industry. Find out more…

Project Irene

Researching energy resilience

European Commission-directed programme to study the impact on future city energy resilience, as greater local power generation and storage capability is delivered over the coming years. A key output is also a collaborative framework that will support stakeholders moderating their self interest for the benefit of all in the city. Find out more…

The Future of Work

Transforming working life

Our Work, Live, Well (WLW) project explores how to transform levels of employee engagement by re-imagining the individual/organisation paradigm and creating a more collaborative model. We are looking at ways in which commercial and governmental organisations can instigate conversation with individuals to achieve more mutually valuable outcomes.

Guildford

The UK’s Future City

Ethos Smart has built a full-scale demonstrator model of the GEOmii platform, the world’s largest multi-asset parking and retail monitoring system, in Guildford. Fixed and mobile sensors in car parks and key shopping streets deliver live information to businesses and local government, 24 hours a day. This data allows shoppers to find parking, retailers to gain valuable insights and authorities to better understand how to develop and maintain a thriving town centre. Read more

GEOmii Retail

Powering the high street revival

GEOmii retail harnesses sensor technology and proven data analytics to identify how shoppers move around retail areas. The system provide retailers, developers and landlords with live analysis of the footfall density outside their retail outlet, shopper dwell time and peel off rate into their store. The data is profoundly valuable for BIDs and LAs planning evidence-based high street improvement schemes. Read more

BuildLondon

Connecting people

BuildLondon connects job seekers with vacancies in London’s major infrastructure and construction projects, and provides the construction industry with the skilled workers it needs. As the only London-wide, specialist construction industry brokerage, BuildLondon offers a central point of contact for industry, colleges, local authorities and supports communities, diversity in construction and people wanting to train, upskill or reskill. Read more

BuildForce

Military Skills – Construction Careers

BuildForce, a co-venture partly funded by citb, enables highly skilled ex-Forces personnel to access careers in the UK construction industry, through a growing network of employers, mentors and supporters. Ethos is leading on project management & industry and forces engagement alongside an industry steering group and specialist training provider. Read more

Ethos Cyber

Nurturing an open culture

Ethos Cyber is a vision of a digital society that is innovative, inclusive, sustainable and responsible. Ethos is working to build and promote an ‘open cyber culture’ that balances the needs of the individual with commercial interests by establishing an Open Cyber Institute. The OCI will nurture collaboration between government, NGOs, business, academia, civil society and, of course, individuals.

Ethos Insights

Decoding a complex world

Ethos Insights powered by SenseMaker® is a revolutionary way to identify trends, patterns and hotspots. It gathers day-to-day micro-narratives from people and integrates this rich material with robust statistical data to bridge the gap between big data and case studies. The result allows a holistic, evidence-based approach to decision making in complex situations, organisations and environments.

Who we work with

These are just some of organisations, companies and people Ethos works with. Get in touch to find out how we can work with you too .

Never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that for you is play

Our People

Ethos is the Future of Work, Now. All our Partners share in the equity and future of our business. An Ethos project team could include a past FTSE 100 senior executive, an Army general or a former big four senior consultant. Our culture allows these passionate and experienced people to take ownership of well defined problems. Project teams are small, agile and self-directed: co-ordination replaces traditional top down management.

We’re shifting the culture of work to be less about fixed contracts and more about allowing the individual to unleash their particular skills and passions on opportunities that excite them. We believe life and work should integrate, not compete. We measure an individual’s value not by hours spent at a desk but by contribution to a project. What also makes us different is that Ethos is owned entirely by its Partners (our name for those we work with).

It means individuals find work more sustainable and Ethos builds a more committed, more flexible workforce that delivers greater value. Join us

Some facts about Ethos:

102

Partners collaborating

56780

Skype meetings held

22.9

million shares allocated

76

% working part-time

Work With Us

Opportunities

If you are interested in our approach to work, and you share our values, there are a number of ways you or your organisation can be part of our journey going forwards.

Bring us an idea

If you or your organisation needs help and you are passionate and committed to driving change then contact Robert Pye. We really want to hear from you!

Invest in the future of work

If you fully embrace what we say about an empowered work future for everyone and if you or your organisation could partner or invest in our mission to improve the working lives of 1 million people in the next five years then please contact us

Work with Ethos

Become an Ethos Partner. We do not have employees, just partners (John Lewis model) – and we are always looking for new individuals and organisations to work with.

Whether it’s full or part time, or project-based, Ethos Partners come in all shapes and sizes, from ex-Army Generals and big four senior consultants, to information architects and retail specialists. We all own shares in the company and agree individual ‘value exchange documents’ when we join, which enable us to have almost total flexibility in terms of when, where and how we work.

We do sometimes advertise particular vacancies – such as marketing, financial, personnel, admin and IT. – but most Partners join through introduction or via existing partner recommendation. If you like the sound of us, then why not find out more by coming along to one of our First Wednesday socials, or contact Annabelle Lambert.

Come and meet us

Cloud technology allows all the Partners in the Ethos network to collaborate from anywhere in the world but we believe that nothing can match face-to-face interactions. So along with regular Partner meetings, we also hold events for anyone in the Ethos network – or outside it – to come and meet us.

First Wednesdays are our regular meet up for anyone in the network, now, old, or just thinking about it, to come along and say hello, catch up and hopefully have fun. We meet at different central London venues for a drink and a bite to eat.

In addition, we hold Ethos Connect networking events around the country. You can see some of what happened at our latest and flourishing hub in Exeter below.

Contact

To find more about Ethos people and projects as well as posts and discussions around the Future of Work, collaborative working, open and linked data and creating successful and sustainable 21st Century businesses, please email us at info@ethosvo.org, or sign up to our quarterly email newsletter – Work Live Well– using the form below –

Ethos Skills is all about helping people achieve their true potential by putting them at the heart of organisations and problems.

Ethos Skills is our division that explores the Future of Work – how the working environment can become more meaningful for individuals through a collaborative rather than transactional model; enabling successful career transitions and tackling skills gaps in industry. Our projects includeSkillsPlanner, BuildLondon and BuildForce.

For more information about what we could do for you, whether you are an individual or an organisation, contact Mike Davis-Marks..

Funding Forces Sport

Ethos Sport is an exciting enterprise which raises funds for sport in the Army, Royal Navy and Combined Services, with the aim of promoting excellence, increasing opportunity and enabling recuperation and rehabilitation from operations.

Click to view brochure

Ethos Sport’s highly successful initiatives, Team Ethos and Team Army, are endorsed by the Ministry of Defence and work in partnership with a growing number of companies, and the Service sports boards that regulate all sport played in the Armed Forces.

Ethos Smart provides sustainable solutions to the global challenges facing cities now and in the future. Ethos Smart projects enable city authorities, enterprises and individuals to collaborate to integrate key services, optimise resources, and reduce costs, energy and carbon footprint. We use innovative thinking and technologies including Linked Data, semantic web, sensors, apps and the cloud to develop and deliver these solutions as services, minimising city investment and maximising outcomes.